Red Dot Annual Review

2022 has been a year full of surprises, changes and challenges. For Red Dot, it marked a return to experiencing things together, with in-person celebrations finally making a comeback from the middle of the year. The large-scale Red Dot events that were badly missed for a long time came back with a bang with the Red Dot Gala in June. But we didn’t just party together. In this year in review, you can find out everything about this year’s Red Dot Design Award.

First though, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners, colleagues and friends who helped to make 2022 a successful year and fill it with many inspiring, heartfelt and impressive moments.

Passion, minimalism and auditory experiences – the Red Dot studio exhibitions

The year got off to a high-octane start with the studio exhibition “Passione Ferrari – 75 years of passion”, the first of four additional special exhibitions on show in the Red Dot Design Museum in 2022. The subsequent studio exhibitions focused on micro-trends in the Red Dot Design Award, once again shining a light on the competition winners. The Red Dot Design Museum offered a unique backdrop for the exhibitions, and throughout the year visitors were able to explore the topics “Less is more. Aspects of minimal design”, “Urban Mobility” and “Audio – Design for Sound”.

World’s Best Communication Design in the Red Dot Design Museum

Alongside the fascinating exhibitions presenting award-winning products, from February onwards the museum in Essen also featured the winners of the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design. The exhibition “Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design” showed a selection of the best communication design projects and brands from last year’s competition. In addition, part of the museum was dedicated to an unusual digital video installation by the Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2021, denkwerk.

The well-attended vernissage for the special exhibition was accompanied by a talk by Red Dot CEO Professor Dr. Peter Zec, who personally introduced the audience to some of the award-winning works.

The hybrid judging process

This year, the Red Dot Jury once again took their decisions using the tried-and-tested hybrid judging process. Experienced Red Dot staff used video calls to present the products entered in the competition to the jurors. Only two jury members, assessing the cars, were present in person. Essen/Mülheim airport was hired out specially for this purpose. The jurors drove all of the vehicles along the landing strip, closely inspecting the design of the vehicle interior and of the body. An entertaining video was produced to document this special way of evaluating products and to explain the method used by the jury:

At long last, the winners of the Red Dot Award: Product Design were celebrated at a live in-person event again in 2022. 1,200 guests convened in the Aalto Theater in Essen on the evening of 20 June for the event. It was clear from the impressive opening that the hosts of the Red Dot Design Award had not forgotten how to do award ceremonies. Professor Dr. Peter Zec was the moderator for the evening. He summed up the special day by saying: “Everyone was excited and tense after two years without a live event. But the many happy faces you could see that evening showed that it was an extremely successful comeback for our award ceremony. I would like to thank all the guests for travelling, some of them very long distances, to be there in person again. The atmosphere was fantastic all day long.”

The grand finale of the Red Dot Gala was the official announcement of the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2022. The Philips Experience Design Team led by Sean Carney celebrated their win on stage with around 40 staff, showered by golden confetti.

The work of the Philips Experience Design Team was on display in the Red Dot Design Museum from the evening of 20 June. The special exhibition “A life of design. Designing for life. – Philips Experience Design” was designed by the Design Team led by Sean Carney specifically for this purpose and proudly presented during the after-show party for the Red Dot Gala.

Besides the presentation by Philips, guests were able to visit “Milestones in Contemporary Design” and “Design on Stage” for the first time. The two special exhibitions showcase the winners of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2022 and are open to visitors to the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen until the end of May 2023.

Apart from the exhibition openings, a combination of good weather, the new Red Dot beer garden and the set by DJ CHRISSI D meant that spirits were high at the Designers’ Night. The after-show party went on until the early hours, transforming the Red Dot Design Museum into a hot new party location.

Visit to the Hyundai Design Center in Seoul

In mid-September, an exclusive event with 30 top designers from Hyundai, Kia and Genesis took place in Seoul. Professor Dr. Peter Zec visited the Design Center there and spoke with Sangyup Lee, Head of Hyundai Global Design, and Karim Habib, Head of Design Kia, about the future of mobility and the role of design.

Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2022

There was also a live, in-person celebration for the winners of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept. Award-winners from all over the globe travelled to Singapore to accept their awards on 27 September. This year’s Red Dot: Luminary, the highest distinction in the competition, went to the designers at the Hyundai Global Design Center for their Trailer Drone.

The evening’s celebrations culminated in the subsequent Designers’ Night in the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore. The museum has an exclusive view of the harbour promenade at Marina Bay, and it was there that the competition winners were celebrated and the exhibition presenting all of the award-winning concepts was opened.

Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design 2022

From war and peace to sustainability and social criticism, the participants in this year’s Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design tackled the most controversial topics of our time and transformed them into unique and accessible works and projects. Professor Dr. Peter Zec had this to say: “The dedication and creativity the designers and companies have displayed in the face of crises are impressive and admirable. They show the relevance of the work of communication designers in the context of society as a whole.”

All winners of the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design 2022 can be found here.

Back to Normal – Red Dot Jury back in the Judging Hall

The best projects were selected by the Red Dot Jury to win a distinction. The jury members discussed the digital works and the brand presentations in video calls. For the physical submissions, however, some design experts were able to inspect and assess them in person. “It was not possible to have all of the jurors physically present in 2021. But thanks to the dedication and professionalism of our expert panel, we were still able to get good results that year. Nevertheless we are happy to be able to welcome back part of the Red Dot Jury in person. Our experts take their job very seriously, and it’s important for them to be able to turn over the pages of a book themselves, to feel the structure of the paper and inspect packaging from all angles and open and close it with their own hands”, explained Peter Zec.

Red Dot Gala in Berlin

The award ceremony for the competition for brands and communication design took place on 28 October 2022 in the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Guests from roughly 30 countries accepted the invitation to attend, and they celebrated the year’s best agencies and designers in a laid-back atmosphere. Here too, it was clear that people were glad to see each other in person again.

There were plenty of surprises, as the Agency of the Year and the winners of the Red Dot: Grand Prix were not announced until the night itself. The Red Dot: Grand Prix is the highest individual distinction in the competition and was awarded to just six recipients. Meanwhile, the honorary title “Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2022” went to the team at MetaDesign.

Visitors to the Red Dot Design Museum can find out more about MetaDesign’s work from 24 February 2023, when a special exhibition of the best works of the year will feature an area dedicated to MetaDesign.

This year’s Red Dot: Junior Prize went to students from Ling Tung University in Taiwan. Yi-Ling Chen, Xin-Rong He, Hong-Jie Chen and Pin-Ling Chen won the prize for their project “Laundry Clinic” together with their professors An-Hui Ching and Wei-Jen Huang. Jana Zec, Vice President of Red Dot, awarded the trophies to the students on stage at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. They had travelled the whole way from Taiwan for this special moment.

The award ceremony culminated in Daniel Leyser, Global CEO of MetaDesign, joyfully accepting the Stylus trophy from Jochen Schleier, Chief Creative Officer at last year’s recipient of the title, denkwerk. The MetaDesign team celebrated the extraordinary success with roughly 30 employees on stage at the Konzerthaus.

Opening of the studio exhibition “Best Brands & Communication Design” in the Museum for Communication in Berlin

The evening after the Red Dot Gala saw the opening of the studio exhibition “Best Brands & Communication Design – Red Dot Winners Selection 2022” in the Museum for Communication. Red Dot’s partnership with the renowned museum in Berlin has been ongoing for several years. This year, the partnership once again yielded an engaging exhibition showing the year’s best communication design projects. Visitors can attend the exhibition in the historical building in the centre of Berlin until 15 February 2023.

International Yearbook Brands & Communication Design – a new concept with tried-and-tested quality

The International Yearbook Brands & Communication Design is presenting a new editorial concept with the 2022/2023 edition. In addition to showcasing the award-winning works in the competition, it shines a light on the best designers and agencies. In in-depth interviews, they speak about their communication strategies as well as the current and future challenges in the industry.

The Red Dot website is also amplifying its focus on the winning designers for the current year of the competition. It includes detailed features presenting their career to date, how they work and their take on the state of the art in communication design.

To the designer profiles

Redesign for the digital archive of contemporary design

There’s also lots of new things to discover in the Winners Section on the Red Dot Award website. Not only is the digital archive of contemporary design boasting a new look, since this year the website also has at its core improved search and filter options as well as curated areas.

Contemporary Good Design Award 2022

The competition year came to a close with the Contemporary Good Design Award. The winners of this award can improve their positioning and standing on the Chinese market. The competition is organised by Red Dot and allows companies and designers to present their products to an internationally renowned and independent jury for assessment. Successful participants are permitted to use the label, which ensures product visibility on the Chinese market and provides guidance for Chinese customers. This makes the competition an important channel for Chinese companies that want to become established on the global market as well as for foreign companies intending to break into the Chinese market.

Outlook for 2023

Red Dot Award: Product Design

Designers and companies from all over the world have until 27 January 2023 to register their best products for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2023.

The Red Dot Gala will take place in Essen on 19 June 2023.

Red Dot Award: Design Concept

Registration is already open for the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2023. There is an early bird phase that runs until 18 January, followed by the regular registration phase until 15 March and the subsequent latecomer phase, which ends on 21 April 2023.

The Red Dot Gala in Singapore will take place on 27 September 2023.

Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design

The registration phase for the international competition for communication design starts in March 2023.